Point-Quarter Harvested Plant Weight Measurements to Estimate Shrub ANPP in a Chihuahuan Desert Creosote Shrubland at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico (2007- present)

Authors

Esteban Muldavin
Douglas I. Moore

Date

2015

Abstract

In an effort to better quantify NPP of Creosotebush in the Five-Points region, it was decided to test the Point-Quarter method against the standard 1-m2 quadrat method that has been in use since 1998. Transects were laid out across the 5 mammal trapping webs as well as across burned and unburned plots of the Mixed Shrub site (MS). Repeat measures of the same bushes are performed seasonally. Whole shrubs of various size classes are collected and sorted and weighed to develop regressions for biomass.

Handle

http://hdl.handle.net/1928/30001

Other Identifier

SEV202

Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB) Identifier

knb-lter-sev.202.312957

Document Type

Dataset

Comments

This dataset was originally published on the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network Data Portal, https://portal.lternet.edu, and potentially via other repositories or portals as described. The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) of the source data package is doi:10.6073/pasta/873f0a0180e43a9ccbf75946a2ebf480, and may be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/873f0a0180e43a9ccbf75946a2ebf480. Metadata and files included in this record mirror as closely as possible the source data and documentation, with the provenance metadata and quality report generated by the LTER portal reproduced here as '*-provenance.xml' and *-report.html' files, respectively.

Rights

Data Policies: This dataset is released to the public and may be freely downloaded. Please keep the designated Contact person informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation or collaboration with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset must include proper acknowledgement of the Sevilleta LTER. Datasets must be cited as in the example provided. A copy of any publications using these data must be supplied to the Sevilleta LTER Information Manager. By downloading any data you implicitly acknowledge the LTER Data Policy (http://www.lternet.edu/data/netpolicy.html).

Publisher

SEV LTER, Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131

Source

http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/873f0a0180e43a9ccbf75946a2ebf480

Temporal coverage

2007-02-21 - 2015-10-27

Spatial coverage

Location: Five Points is the area which encompasses the Five Points Black Grama and Five Points Creosote Core study sites and falls along the transition between Chihuahuan Desert Scrub and Desert Grassland habitats. Both sites are subject to intensive research activity, including NPP measurement, phenology observation, pollinator diversity studies, and ground dwelling arthropod and rodent population assessments. There are drought rain-out shelters in both the Black Grama and Creosote sites, as well as the mixed-ecotone, with co-located ET Towers.Vegetation: The Five Points Creosote site is characterized as Chihuahuan Desert Scrub, dominated by a creosotebush overstory with broom snakeweed, purple pricklypear (O. macrocentra) and soapweed yucca as notable shrubs. The site is also characterized by numerous dense grass dominated patches, reflecting proximity to the Five Points Black Grama site and the relatively recent appearance of creosotebush. Dominant grasses are black grama, fluffgrass (Dasyochloa pulchellum), burrograss (Scleropogon brevifolia), bush muhly (M. porteri), and galleta (Pleuraphis jamesii). Notable forb species include field bahia (Bahia absinthifolia), baby aster (Chaetopappa ericoides), plains hiddenflower (Cryptantha crassisepala), Indian rushpea (Hoffmannseggia glauca), Fendlers bladderpod (Lesquerella fendleri), and globemallow (Sphaeralcea spp.). Five Points Black Grama habitat is ecotonal in nature, bordering Chihuahuan Desert Scrub at its southern extent and Plains-Mesa Grassland at its northern, more mesic boundary. There is also a significant presence of shrubs, particularly broom snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae), along with less abundant fourwing saltbush (Atriplex canescens), Mormon tea (Ephedra torreyana), winterfat (Krascheninnikovia lanata), tree cholla (Opuntia imbricata), club cholla (O. clavata), desert pricklypear (O. phaeacantha), soapweed yucca (Yucca glauca), and what are presumed to be encroaching, yet sparsely distributed, creosotebush (Larrea tridentata). Characteristically, the dominant grass is black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda). Spike, sand, and mesa dropseed grasses (Sporobolus contractus, S. cryptandrus, S. flexuosus) and sand muhly (Muhlenbergia arenicola) could be considered co-dominant throughout, along with blue grama (B. gracilis) in a more mesic, shallow swale on the site. Notable forb species include trailing four o’clock (Allionia incarnata), horn loco milkvetch (Astragalus missouriensis), sawtooth spurge (Chamaesyce serrula), plains hiddenflower (Cryptantha crassisepala), blunt tansymustard (Descarania obtusa), wooly plaintain (Plantago patagonica), globemallow (Sphaeralcea wrightii), and mouse ear (Tidestromia lanuginosa)., siteid: 2Location: The Five Points area emcompasses both the Five Points Black Grama and Five Points Creosote study sites. Five Points falls along the transition between the Chihuahuan Desert Scrub and Desert Grassland habitats. Both core sites are subject to intensive research activities, including NPP measurements, phenology observations, pollinator diversity studies, and ground dwelling arthropod and rodent population assessments. There are rain-out shelters for drought studies in both the Five Points Black Grama and Five Points Creosote sites.Vegetation: The Five Points Creosote site is characterized as Chihuahuan Desert Scrub, dominated by a creosote overstory, with broom snakeweed, purple pricklypear (Opuntia macrocentra), and soapweed yucca as co-occurring shrubs. The site is also characterized by numerous, dense, grass-dominated patches, reflecting proximity to the Five Points Black Grama Site. Dominant grasses are black grama, fluffgrass (Dasyochloa pulchellum), burrograss (Scleropogon brevifolia), bushmuhly (Muhlenbergia porteri), and galleta (Pleuraphis jamesii). Notable forbs include field bahia (Bahia absinthifolia), baby aster (Chaetopappa ericoides), plains hiddenflower (Cryptantha crassisepala), Indian rushpea (Hoffmannseggia glauca), Fendlers bladderpod (Lesquerella fendleri), and globemallows (Sphaeralcea spp.)., siteid: 3Location: The mixed shrub (MS) location consists of burned and unburned areas. Both the mixed shrub burned (MSB) and mixed shrub unburned (MSU) areas are on the north side of the road running southeast from Five Points.Vegetation: This area is dominated by creosotebush (Larrea tridenta) but also maintains a relatively dense understory of black grama in comparison to true shrub land., History: The northwest half of the site was burned in June 2003. The southeast half was used as the control. Plots were established in spring 2004, siteid: 33

DOI

doi:10.6073/pasta/873f0a0180e43a9ccbf75946a2ebf480

Permanent URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/873f0a0180e43a9ccbf75946a2ebf480

Recommended Citation

Muldavin, Esteban; Moore, Douglas I. (2015): Point-Quarter Harvested Plant Weight Measurements to Estimate Shrub ANPP in a Chihuahuan Desert Creosote Shrubland at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico (2007- present). Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/873f0a0180e43a9ccbf75946a2ebf480